This Nurse Does The Uncomfortable Things - Ep. 75
Joanna Nolte, is a nurse who wants other nurses to be confident through gained competence. She has over thirteen years of nursing experience. She wants every nurse to know “you're not above it, do the uncomfortable things.” She has taken jobs that she initially thought wouldn’t be valuable to her career that have helped her become published as a first author and run successful businesses.
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TRANSCRIPT:
Naseema McElroy: [00:00:00] All right, nurses on fire. I'm super honored to have Joanna Nolte join us on the podcast today. And you guys, you are in for a treat because she is just a phenomenal person nurse overall. And does she have stories for days, but she also has some resources that can help our new nurses coming into the field.
Super successful in their careers. So, Hey Joanna
Joanna Nolte: [00:00:32] Hey, how are you?
Naseema McElroy: [00:00:34] I'm doing well doing well. So let's get started in your and share your nursing origin story. How did you yourself become a nurse?
Joanna Nolte: [00:00:42] I started with an ADN program. my sister is a nurse. So I got a scholarship from the local hospital to attend, Santa Fe community college.
And they paid for all of my books and tuition as long as I worked for them for two years. So that's how I got started.
Naseema McElroy: [00:00:59] Okay. And where did you start out, in your nursing for your, like what unit did you start on?
Joanna Nolte: [00:01:05] I started in critical care. It was the surgical ICU and ICU step down.
Naseema McElroy: [00:01:10] just talk about your nursing trajectory and, you know, all the different things you've done as a nurse
Joanna Nolte: [00:01:16] started out in critical care. And, I moved to the cardiac ICU after that. And I was finishing my bachelor's degree online while I worked night shift. And when I finish that, I applied to graduate school and moved up to Nashville, Tennessee and took a job work a night shift.
And I went to grad school and I got my first master's degree, in adult nurse practitioner. And while I was. Doing grad school. I worked in the posting a seizure care unit and, overnight OBS. So that's what I did while I was in school. And then I became a nurse practitioner in primary care and research and did that for four years.
And while I was there. We got a little baby grant and we did a research study that demonstrated you could teach medical professionals about the genetic condition we were working with, with a short video, like a two minute video. And, we took that and transitioned it into continuing education. And, I left my job to start a continuing education company Renew Now CE.
Naseema McElroy: [00:02:20] Wow. Wow. Wow. Awesome. Okay. Wait, so let me go back. You have two different NP specialties.
Joanna Nolte: [00:02:30] I do. Yeah. So, I originally got the adult nurse practitioner and then I worked, you know, I didn't need the other one. but when I, was running the company, I had some free time and I could make it a tax deductible things, my tuition.
So I, I got a second master's degree, in a family. So I did a post-master's certificate at UMass Boston, highly recommended. It was wonderful.
Naseema McElroy: [00:02:54] Nice. Nice, nice. Well, to me that sounded like a whole lot of debt, but it sounded like you figured out a way to do it very cost-effectively and I think, and, speaks to how you became a nurse that you went through ADM program, which is pretty affordable.
Then you work for awhile and then went back to school. And did you have your jobs pay for school.
Joanna Nolte: [00:03:14] Yes. So the first degree, the associate's degree, the local hospital gave me a full ride scholarship with all my books, if I worked for them for two years. And so I worked for them for, three and a half years after I graduated.
And then. I moved up to Nashville, Tennessee, because the hospital was offering 50% of your tuition if you work full-time for them. So I worked full time and I paid for the other half of my tuition because I had already saved up before I moved up there. To pay for all of the tuition. And I actually didn't find out until after I had moved there that I was even going to be eligible for them to pay for half of it, the tuition, but they did.
So they no longer offer that program, but that was great.
Naseema McElroy: [00:03:58] Yes. I love it. Not like me go back to school and have a hundred thousand dollars just for my nursing program. So you did it, right, girl.
Joanna Nolte: [00:04:10] You crawled out.
Naseema McElroy: [00:04:13] I had to, I had to just think about so many people who don't and are chasing degrees. And I think the way that you got your degrees was.
It seemed like complimented your job and was, and you know, it wasn't, something that you felt like, like you had to do. I, I know there's a lot of nurses that feel like they have to get these advanced degrees in order to start like making money, which I actually found was not very true in nursing.
There's so many different paths to, make money. And, typically in nursing advanced degrees, don't translate to more money, but that can be regional too. but you just went ahead with both of your NPs and started your own business. Let's talk more about your CE company and what you were able to do from starting with that two minute video, to where you are now.
Joanna Nolte: [00:05:04] yeah, so we launched it in 2017 using short videos and then a little bit of written content and a test. And we wanted to get, ANCC accreditation so we can provide national CE to anyone. Cause we just started in like 15 States. You can get individual state certification and going through the credentialing process with the ADC, we kind of tweaked a little bit and Changed it to do like short videos with test assisted learning.
So you can like test yourself and get automatic feedback while you're working through the material. And it is proven to be really a great model for CE because people have been giving us amazing feedback about you're really retaining and it's all research back. Both of them are like short videos and test assisted learning are both.
Evidence-based like there's research to demonstrate that it's a good way. and it really does work. So I'm just a big proponent of, You learn it to really know it, not just to memorize it because you got to apply it and you really need to retain it. and this seems to be a really great way. So we're a nationally accredited and that's the model that we use and it seems to be working really well.
Naseema McElroy: [00:06:09] You've had a lot of people go through your courses. Oh
Joanna Nolte: [00:06:13] yes. I think that we've had more than 30,000 people take courses from us. Yes.
Naseema McElroy: [00:06:18] Do you think that, All your different positions as a nurse and even like your MP experience helped you, be successful in this company?
Joanna Nolte: [00:06:29] Oh, absolutely. So I, didn't want to take my job that I did human centered research.
I remember my boss. he told me when I took the job, he's like, I need you to stay for at least two years. Cause you're going to be worthless for the first 18 months. Cause it's take a long time to learn research and he's like, He's like, so I need you to stay for a little while. And I remember sitting there in the interview, thinking in my mind, I'm going to stay at this job for a year.
I'm not going to do this. I don't like this. This is not going to help me. But that actually was the most useful job I've ever had. Like learning how human subject research operates, how to run a research study, like all the data collection and the way to keep your material that is. Totally useful in running a business, because you have to be detail oriented and keep track of things.
And so, yes, that was very valuable. And then just the critical care experience that I had, I think that helps in teaching things to people in nursing. Cause you, you really do get a very understanding of how things work when you work in critical care. You know, how the path of fizz. You know it, you have to know it.
And so I think that helps. So
Naseema McElroy: [00:07:38] yeah. Yeah. I think that that all, everything that we do is so interesting how, especially as nurses, our nursing experience feeds into our businesses or whatever, and make us really successful. And so entrepreneurship is a natural path for a lot of nurses because we have so many skillsets.
some is incredible, but I want to talk about your money story and, kind of like where you are financially and how you got there. so I'll just kick it off by saying, I know that you're in a pretty good place financially and you know, younger in life. And, wanted to know what your parents taught you about money.
Joanna Nolte: [00:08:23] Oh, yes. So both my parents survived the great depression. They were born in the early 19 hundreds. And, so they taught them a lot of really good things about reduce, reuse, recycle, save, be careful with your money. Talk about money. My parents always talked to us about like, you know, your swim lessons.
Cost me this many hours of work, which at the time seemed like insulting or almost see like, wow, you know, but it helps us get a good grasp of what things really cost. And we were not really, given things we had to work for them. Like we were told when I was in nursing school, I had three jobs. And when I graduated from nursing school, I graduated on a Friday with $127 in my bank account.
And I started my job on Monday because I needed the money. cause I needed the paycheck. so my parents would, when we were kids, I think I wrote to you this story about my dad. he drove me through a really, really nice neighborhood and it's huge houses, nice cars. We get to the end of the road.
And there's this older home with two used Volvos. And he was like, Joanna, these are the richest people in this neighborhood. He's like they have the smallest house. In the nicest neighborhood with used cars that are probably paid for. So I think growing up, we always had that, you know, that background of just talking about money and knowing to save.
So I think we all kind of had a good baseline, you know, good launching point that my parents really encouraged me when I was looking at school. You know, what, can you get a job in that? You're gonna have stability. Your sister's already a nurse. And then when I got the scholarship, it was a no-brainer this is going to pay for school is going to pay for college.
I'm going to do this,
Naseema McElroy: [00:10:07] so, wow. I was just thinking about all those lessons. Those are lessons that I've just had to learn like over the last couple of years and just trying to figure out, you know, and unfold a lot of my money issues. And those are some invaluable lessons and yeah. then I can, I can imagine being a child being like, dang mom, dang dad.
Like, I just want to go to swim lessons like everybody else. Why do I have to feel so guilty about you working for it? But they taught you that the value of time and money and, like, when we work, you know, we're trading time for dollars and the value of that.
so how much of your life are you going to be working to pay for stuff. I like those lessons and then the whole like millionaire next door.
I mean like the smallest house in the nicest neighborhood with the paid for cars. I wasn't taught that, I was taught, well, not what I was taught because I really wasn't taught about many. So it was my perception of what rich was.
Would it be those like big houses and luxury cars and not even understanding the concept of, Net worth and having things that are paid off and not depreciating assets and things like that. And so you got some really good money lessons early, and I think that the fact that you had to work through nursing school and pay for everything on your own made you a stronger nurse and just build that character in you.
and I just think that those things are like, people think. When we talk about money, it's just, Oh, we shouldn't focus so much about money. You know, money is the root of all evil when all that kind of stuff, but it's really not. If you really, are empowered financially, then you have more control over your life period.
And you can do the things that you want, period, because it's about getting to do the things that you get to do. Not that you have to do. And I think that your parents set you up in a major way for that. And, so right now, where are you like. Financially. I know you're married to a tradesman and that's another story we'll talk about in a minute, but where have you guys set yourself up to be financially?
Joanna Nolte: [00:12:30] yeah, well, we don't really, we're not a huge fan of debt. Our cars are paid for, we don't live in an expensive house and, we have been consistently good about, you know, saving for retirement, taking advantage of the match, from our employers. so I think, we're on the road, we're getting there, you know, but we're, you know, it, sometimes it can be hard.
We talk a lot about my husband and I looking at people who seem to have more, but you know, that they don't actually have more, because we don't live in like an accent. Expensive home or anything. And so we, you know, sometimes it can be hard to sacrifice to be like, this is the wise financial decision.
but you know, I just learned recently, did you know that the average millionaire in the United States, their home is less than one third of their net worth. So that means that most millionaires in the United States live in a 300,000 or less dollar home.
Naseema McElroy: [00:13:22] No, I did not know that that's actually a mind blowing statistic because you know, I'm in California.
So it was just like what there's actually houses for under 300,000. Like.
Joanna Nolte: [00:13:32] Yeah, that's not going to happen,
Naseema McElroy: [00:13:38] right. Because if not, they, if I show you a house under $300,000, you probably won't want to live in that neighborhood. So yes, that is a mind blowing statistic. But I get it. I understand because, a lot of people's. Majority of their net worth, their assets are tied up into their home. So therefore it's not really an asset because it's not completely liquid.
but that's what we look at a lot of times as, Like our wealth and our homes and our properties. And that's not true wealth but you guys have put yourself in a position where you've set up your retirement accounts and, we like to use the term like CoastFI like you're okay. Like if you don't, you don't have, I have to contribute a whole nother, I mean, another dime to your retirement account to be okay for retirement to be able to maintain your standard of living. I liked that, you guys have used real estate in order to do that. So can you talk about like the kind of houses that you have historically bought?
Joanna Nolte: [00:14:37] Okay. Yeah. So, I have bought two properties at auction and, I have a rental property that was an auction property in my home was, and I sold it.
and my husband also bought a foreclosure and that's what we live in. And it's a work in progress. So I'm looking for the diamond in the rough has been, has been a blessing for us.
Naseema McElroy: [00:15:01] Yeah. Yeah. So you're able to buy houses that are substantially below what you can afford. And, so a lot of your income doesn't go to housing costs.
Like most Americans, which like 60% of their income goes to housing costs. Yeah.
Joanna Nolte: [00:15:15] And I did house hacking too, I guess, before it was the known term or whatever. I, when I was working full-time as a nurse practitioner, I had my full-time job. And then I had a night shift job on top of that. And I rented a room in my house to medical students when they do their rotating once a month, they come for like their monthly rotations.
And so I would have. Like five to seven med students throughout the year who would rent like a room from me in my place. so that helped offset my costs too. So
Naseema McElroy: [00:15:48] yeah. Yes, yes. Yes. I'm a big fan of house hacking. I love, especially like nurses and doctors or people who are just going to use your room to sleep and then they're quiet and then they go about their business.
And I have done that for many, many years and I love it.
Joanna Nolte: [00:16:05] Yeah. I thought the best ones were the ones to do in the neurosurgery rotation. Cause they were working so many hours. You never saw them, you know, barely even you.
Naseema McElroy: [00:16:17] I love it. I love it. and then you have like gems on top of gems for. new nurses coming into the field about things that they should avoid are things that they should do to be not only successful nurses, but be successfully financially. So, let's talk about some of those things.
Yes. Yes. Joanna's nursing pearls.
Joanna Nolte: [00:16:46] so I'm also an adjunct professor. I do that about 24 days a year. And so I have sort of like a little spiel for my nursing students that I always tell them is the first thing you do with your new job is go down to HR and you make sure you set up your 401k for at least the match and you need to enroll it in a target retirement account. They can show you how to do that, and you need to get a ROTH and if you can do an HSA, do your HSA. And then I tell them, if you get a night shift job, don't live on that night shift money. Don't get a brand new car right away.
I always tell them to, really think about grad school. Cause like you said, You found that like, once you became an NP, the pay isn't really significantly better. And I find a lot of people are doing it to chase the money. And, I always tell them if you really sit down and you look at the time that you have to put into it, your last hours and OT, and then your childcare and everything that you're doing.
The increase in pay , it's really not good in Florida. It's not significantly more. And jobs are really hard to come by. There's regional oversupply. I know that lots of people know about that, you know, different parts of the country. And I always tell him if you're going to do an NP. Don't have anything against it, but you need to make sure you line up a job and you know, how much you're going to get paid and how many hours you're going to work.
because I think that sort of a shock to some people, if you go from work in three twelves to work in five days a week, and it's not five eights, it's more way more than five eights. And it's. Home work too. And so I always tell people to really think about that. Ask people who are working at the place that you think you're going to work at, what their hours are like, what their pay is.
Like. I always tell nursing students to like, find out what the pay is and ask for what you're worth. I have a student who graduated just a year ago and was doing med surg, wanted a pay increase, asked for a pay increase. They wouldn't give her. The pay increase. So she went to another place to see it $5 more an hour.
I mean, I don't blame her, like, ask for what you're worth and, you know, come back to the tables. Say always tell him to say like, here's the committees I've joined or here's what I've done. Here's how I've saved you money. Like, you know, here's how much OT I've done. I'm willing to do more.
What can you come to the table with kind of thing? So, gosh, I think those are my pearls for my nursing students. Oh yeah. I always tell them to like culture, you know, if you did clinical somewhere and you liked the culture work there because. Culture is everything.
Naseema McElroy: [00:19:22] Culture is everything. Hospital culture can make our break.
You have to have a good vibe with the people that you're working with in the organization and know that that's somewhere where you can actually grow. Because, yeah, there's a lot of places that will eat you alive and spit you out and won't care about you.
The money, the pay might be good. And a lot of people, like I said, chase pay but they don't. Fit into the company culture. And it can be damaging because again, like you were talking about like the time spent transitioning into that job or orienting, and that's all opportunity costs that even if you would've stayed at that lower paying place, now you've got to go out, find another job.
And so, yeah, it could be pretty damaging if you don't fit. Right. So culture is everything.
, I think one of the things Joanne that you, have a lot of wisdom around is making sure that nurses prioritize themselves and all too often.
We know that nurse, or maybe we are that nurse that puts other people's needs in front of theirs. we support our husbands careers. we, put our kids through college, but we don't put away money for ourselves for later. And that's why you see the average age of a nurse is like 80.
They're often like working so long, what you suggest your new grads do from the beginning is make sure we take care of ourselves financially. But as nurses we're just like givers, right. We want to help other people, but it's often to our detriment. So yeah.
Joanna Nolte: [00:21:02] Yeah, definitely can be. I think that the 401k is a way to sort of take care of yourself, pay yourself first, you know, make sure that you do that, you know?
Naseema McElroy: [00:21:11] Yeah. I mean, like people just work so long to put and, you know, support their husbands dreams for their kids dreams and just don't take care of themselves.
And so you guys, we gotta take care of ourselves, just like on the plane. When the oxygen mask drops, you have to put it on yourself first, before you put it on the next. And so one of the best things you can do, and it's not hard, you don't have to be like join and start and learn amazing business. You just have to contribute at least up to the mat, contribute continuously.
It's not about timing the market. It's about how long you're in the market. like really putting money aside for yourself for later. because. We have to take care of ourselves. We can't be working forever. We have to know that we can walk away from our job with some financial stability. And not only that, when it comes to retirement, but like you said, like the culture, like sometimes you might have to leave a position are replacing.
You don't want to be stuck there because you can't leave because. Of the pay or because you need that job. so having financial stability gives you power over your career over your life, over your direction. And so I think that's super important.
Joanna Nolte: [00:22:33] Yeah, your, you know, your quality of life is really important.
I remember when I was in grad school, I worked night shift. her name was Ann and she hadn't, she actually had been a nurse practitioner and then went back to the bedside and here I am in grad school, working full time that shifts going to grad school full time. And she's like, Oh yeah, I was an NP.
She's like, I just decided to go back to the bedside because you know, We have a farm and I like to play on my farm and just do my three twelves. And this really works for me and I'm happy. And I thought at the time I was like, I'll never do that. And then I ended up going back to the bedside PRN after working as a nurse practitioner for four years and I'm like, I get it now.
I totally get it now, you know, there's some freedom in that in the hours and you know, just I'm going to work. The set time and I'm going to leave, you know? so I get that, it's always important to think about your quality of life and what you really want when though you really want, you know, what kind of care do you want to provide?
Naseema McElroy: [00:23:53] Yeah. I love those people that don't have to work. Then don't come to work because they have to work. They do it to meet whatever goal and they're happy and they come in and do their job because they know that they're leaving. They don't worry about the politics at work. They don't worry about any of that.
They're just like, listen, honey, I'm here to get like my little check and me and my little goal. And then I'm going to my farm and I'm going to make my cheese and I'm going to be happy. Like I can't be.
Joanna Nolte: [00:24:22] That's right. That's right. I remember when I was in nursing school at the VA, this lady was a nurse like that. I shadowed and she was happy as a Lark and she's like, listen, I worked five twelves, and then I'm off. And I travel and do what I want. And I'm like, this lady has got it. Got it, got it going on.
Naseema McElroy: [00:24:38] I live in the dream for real, for real.
Like, that's my whole thing. Like I think the beauty of nursing is the flexibility. Like my dream is to just. You know, work a couple of months, a year stack up my 403B my 457or, my HSA or whatever, pre-tax retirements. I have maximize those and be out for the rest of the year, like travel the world when my girls and do world schooling.
when the, when the world opens back up, of course, But use nursing, you know, to fund me later in life because it's. It's my passion, but it's also really easy. But then the rest of the time, like just be carefree and not have to worry about the money because the money is there. and just be able to, really just spend time with my girls and embrace.
And I think that's the beauty of nursing. And so, you can turn it on his head instead of being reliant on it. Once you have control of your money, you can use your career to. Support, whatever kind of lifestyle you want. And I think that's the beauty of it. And, I think once you switched that position, then the burnout goes away.
A lot of the issues that we have in nursing kind of like disappear because you're not even worried about it.
Joanna Nolte: [00:26:07] Yeah, that's true. That's true. I mean, some of the happiest nurses I know on the unit I teach on, I know that they are FI they're financially independent. They come to work because they love being a nurse.
Naseema McElroy: [00:26:20] And that's a different kind of nurse that's going to show up at your bedside.
Yes. And I also love how you encourage your students to pursue non-traditional roles in nursing, just like you and how you went into research and how that taught you so much. I feel like there's so many different opportunities in nursing and, I mean, like we have to be open to learning new things. I mean, like, you were just like, like you, I mean, I've been in those position where he's like, I am not going to do this forever, but it's hard to like, until something like amazing and has laid a foundation for you to be a successful entrepreneur, has, I liked that you talked to your students about that.
. Now you said you're an adjunct professor. Do you work bedside nursing at all anymore?
Joanna Nolte: [00:27:07] No. No, I don't. I did for short period, after I left my NP job and started the company, I did hospice for eight months. Then I thought I was going to like that.
Cause I did critical care and, The daily mourning is difficult. every time you're there, it, some people, they just, they can do it. And I found out I was not one of those people.
Naseema McElroy: [00:27:30] It takes a special kind of nurse to be a hospice nurse. Just like it takes a special kind of nurse could be a labor and delivery nurse and every other nurse out there.
But hospice is just one of those things I felt like it would be extremely challenging to so hats off to you for even trying, but yeah. . So, for your CES, is that for nurses
Joanna Nolte: [00:27:50] we do nursing and, some overlap with pharmacy, physical therapy, respiratory therapy. ,
Naseema McElroy: [00:27:56] like the majority of your current courses are targeted for nurses. . So how can nurses check out the CES and the non-traditional way that you teach, which is found, have been found to be super duper successful?
Joanna Nolte: [00:28:11] They can visit us at RenewNowCE.com.
Naseema McElroy: [00:28:15] All right. And do you have something special for the nurses on fire out there?
Joanna Nolte: [00:28:21] I sure do. We are offering $10 off any package with the discount code nurses on fire.
Naseema McElroy: [00:28:29] Yeah. Yay. Thank you. That is so awesome. And yeah. I'm excited to check out with the ease you have. He has. I'm horrible. Horrible. If you want to hear my CE story, let me tell you about my CE story, because this is a good story.
So, you know, got out of school, got my RNC and my NP certification at the same time. And have led both of those laps, just because I don't want to submit all the CES that I like figure out where all my C EAs are to submit them.
Joanna Nolte: [00:29:04] Oh, are you talking about that on a breeze on California, on the breezeway where you have to upload each one,
Naseema McElroy: [00:29:10] you have to upload all your CEs.
Yeah. And to, and to renew my certifications, you have to go in and upload all your CEs to say that, you know, you've had continuing education. And because I simply don't want to do that. I have led a lot of things lapse.
Joanna Nolte: [00:29:28] Well, maybe not enjoyable enough. You need a happier,
Naseema McElroy: [00:29:35] it's not that it's just that I think that there needs to be a better way to like, like I need the new thing.
There needs to be a centralized system that just stores your C's and then you can just like, Plug into that. Like it's tied to your license. Like whenever you do a CE, it should just go into this registry. And then when it's time to renew, it's automatically there that you've done these things, but I think we make it so hard.
Of course in nursing has to be so hard. So of course I feel like there is, it's a systems issue and not my issue.
Joanna Nolte: [00:30:06] well, you know, as you'd need, if you, I always tell people if you need free CE for, your farm pharmacology, CE, and you just want one certificate, have you ever heard of mat waiver training? Medication assisted treatment, waiver training. So, you know, when somebody is opioid dependent to get them off of, dependence on the opioids, to wean them off the therapy, they, they put them on buprenorphine or methadone.
so there's actually waiver mat waiver training that you can do to get your DEA data waiver ex license. But the training is all free because it's all grant funded. And so you can actually get 21 hours of free pharmacology. That's a NCC approved. Yeah. If you get, if you do the training, and that's what I did for my last renewal as I I'm, you know, I'm Mat data waiver certified, by doing the training and you can do it at the American psychiatric nurses association.
There's also, a lot of other free resources. So if you just put in like, Mat waiver training pharmacology, CE you'll find like a lot of different resources. I always tell NPS, if you got to do your national board recertification, that is the best way because you get one certificate that says 24 total CES, and then 21 of them are pharmacology.
Naseema McElroy: [00:31:23] Girl, where were you when I needed to renew my NP or I remember I wouldn't have done that. And I'm going to put that, that link in the show notes, but I just remember calling up there and being like, is there any way, because when you don't practice as an NP two, you have to submit even more CS. So since I wasn't practicing, I was like, is there any way around submitting all these CES?
And they're just like, no. And I was like, so what would happen if I let my license lapse? And they were just like, why would you want to do that? You would have to take the test again. I was like, I only have to take the test. Don't threaten me with a good time. You know, what that test to me was so easy because I had just taken my RNC, OB tests.
And that was like so hard. And then like the next week I went to do my NP test and I felt like I was being punked because in comparison it was so easy. And so I'm like, I can do that again.
Joanna Nolte: [00:32:21] Specify specific certification exams are very hard. Like the orthopedic one and CCRN. They're very, very challenging.
Naseema McElroy: [00:32:30] They are very challenging. I don't know why. And you would think if you specialize in it, you would just know that stuff, but it's like super heavy, into the path of physiology of things and the processes and it's deep, but it's, it's actually worth doing.
I think it makes, I think it definitely does make you a stronger nurse. I think when people have certifications, they, at least are a lot more book-smart. but our in collects is interesting. I don't think it makes you a stronger nurse.
Joanna Nolte: [00:33:01] It's a moving target. Right. They keep changing it, moving target.
every time I have a semester off, I go back to teach clinicals. They're like, Oh, the .NCLEX changed again. I'm like, Oh boy.
Naseema McElroy: [00:33:12] Yeah. I think it's a good judgment of how well, like good of a nurse you're going to be. It's just how well you can take the test as opposed to the specialty, certification tests.
I feel like they are a really good judgment of how good you are in that specialty, by how well you do that test. Yeah. So. Yeah, that's one. I will do my MP test any day over that test.
But anyway, that's good information, good resources. and yeah, it's giant. You are a wealth of knowledge when it comes to just things nurses should know, but in your experience speaks to itself, as far as what you've done in your career and how you've been able to be successful in your CE business and just.
Understanding how we effectively learn is, super important. so how people, are able to check you out at renew now, CE, is there anything else you want to share?
Joanna Nolte: [00:34:09] Oh, well, we just launched an app called med pass. So if anyone wants to download med pass, it's a new app that, we started for nursing.
really nurses and practice probably first year nurses would really benefit from it. anybody in, in school would really benefit from it. So I took my knowledge from being an adjunct and clinical and seeing that. That we have to use the brand and generic name interchangeably. And then we have to know, a lot of the mechanism of action and, that helps you understand the side effects.
So we develop the app with that in mind that you know, that usually in the first six months, you're kind of having to get that. So why can't you just test yourself before and just really mastered the brand and generic interchangeably? I think it would benefit people before they even start clinical. So,
Naseema McElroy: [00:34:57] wow.
That sounds like a phenomenal tool.
Joanna Nolte: [00:35:00] Yeah, because you need to, you got to know both, so
Naseema McElroy: [00:35:03] yeah. Okay. So it's called med pass and you just send, download it from the app
Joanna Nolte: [00:35:08] med pass. The app is med pass. You can just download the app med pass.
Naseema McElroy: [00:35:13] Okay. Okay, cool. I'll put a link in the show notes for that as well, but wow.
That's. Awesome. I wish I had that, but I don't also, don't envy med surg nurses that have to know all these different disease processes, plus all the medications. I mean like hats off to you guys. I just need to learn my labor stuff and I'm good.
Joanna Nolte: [00:35:36] Oh, yeah. That's one of the reasons I love being an adjunct. It keeps me sharp.
It keeps me up to date on the meds and that skillset. I don't want to lose that skillset. So,
Naseema McElroy: [00:35:45] and I just want to ask, like with your business and with being a professor, what has changed when this COVID-19 environment.
Joanna Nolte: [00:35:55] well, you know, I just got, I just finished teaching clinicals and it a lot has changed.
A lot of staffing has changed a lot of policies and procedures. It's it definitely is a different environment for sure. We saw a lot of, short staffing. I don't know if you're seeing that in your practice, but it's definitely changed. which is why one of my tidbits of advice, what I wanted to share was I think it's really important to check back in with your why.
Like, why are you a nurse? Why do you love being a nurse? Because it's pretty tough out there right now. and so I actually keep a little file folder with all my compliment cards or letters from patients or any kind of accolade I ever received in my career. And, periodically we'll go in there and just whip it out and read through things.
to remember that for me, it's advocacy and it's. You know, to advocating for patient care and it's compassion and you, I get that back. When I'm reading through the cards, people have written about the compassionate care I provided or the extra mile I went. And, I think it's really important to check back in with that because.
Frontline care providers right now, our mental health is really important. And you know, we're talking about the aging people and their depression, but I think this next step is going to be addressing healthcare providers in our mental health, because it's definitely challenging right now. So
Naseema McElroy: [00:37:20] yeah, it's definitely a challenge.
I'm surprised you were even able to get. Clinicals on site.
Joanna Nolte: [00:37:26] Yeah, well, we were on a surgery floor, so every patient had been tested. They couldn't go in any COVID rooms. and so it was, you know, We made it through all 78 hours. So
Naseema McElroy: [00:37:42] yeah, what I've been finding is a lot of students haven't been able to get their clinical hours or their preceptorship hours because a lot of places just aren't letting students in right now.
So that's a big shift. as far as your CE business, has that been affected at all?
Joanna Nolte: [00:37:56] no. No, not really. It's online we've been doing it for a while. And so it's not drastically boomed or anything. It's just kind of steady. So,
Naseema McElroy: [00:38:04] yeah, that is good. Yeah. All right. So, Joanne, I just want to thank you for joining me and the nurses on fire really appreciate you taking time out.
You are a wealth of knowledge. And, I'm so glad that you get to be in front of future nurses to help guide them, but also continuing to put your content in front of nurses so that they can learn and grow. Just know that you are impacting so many people. And so I am honored to know you and have you on the show.
So thank you so much
Joanna Nolte: [00:38:43] for having me. It was a pleasure.
Hey there I’m Naseema
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